Backers are still working to raise the money needed to open Shared Harvest, a co-op grocery store, in this space adjacent to Ziegler's Ace Hardware along North Spring Street in downtown Elgin.

Backers are still working to raise the money needed to open Shared Harvest, a co-op grocery store, in this space adjacent to Ziegler's Ace Hardware along North Spring Street in downtown Elgin. (Mike Danahey / The Courier-News)

Since the Aug. 24 session, backers of the Shared Harvest food co-op have attended Elgin City Council meetings, highlighting the benefits of the project, and seeking the city's financial support in getting the downtown grocery store off the ground.

Advocates say the store will offer better eating options for residents and fill a void in the market. Others want the store so they won't have to travel from Elgin to a Whole Foods or a Trader Joe's in Schaumburg.

Behind the scenes, Shared Harvest proponents have met with Elgin Mayor Dave Kaptain and City Manager Rick Kozal in October. Several council members say they have been contacted via email or in person by Shared Harvest supporters to see if they would be in favor of the city giving the effort money.

Council member Rich Dunne said he has met with Shared Harvest members within the last two weeks.

"People want it to happen," said Carol Rauschenberger, a shareholder and spokesperson who helped coordinate the unveiling, themed "Everything...

"At this point, I'd be interested to see their proposal — whatever it turns out to be — after it is vetted by city staff," Dunne said.

But organizers still have not submitted a formal request for public funding.

"There has been no official request to the city," Pam Echevarria, vice president of the Shared Harvest board of directors, said this past week.

In June, a Shared Harvest representative said the group planned to raise the $1.6 million needed to get the store ready and running by seeking $800,000 through loans and investors and another $800,000 from sales of shares in the business, community lenders and grants.

City Council members contacted at that time said Shared Harvest representatives told them they would be seeking $250,000 to $500,000 from Elgin, most likely as a grant.

Shared Harvest would be at 215 S. Spring St. in an empty, 4,250 square-foot space that was an Ace Hardware and which is adjacent to Ziegler's Ace. Ace owner David Ziegler has said he is willing to lend Shared Harvest the space rent free, provided members fix up the building.

In a food co-op, the operation is owned by people who invest their own money in the operation. Some co-ops have members also involved in working various aspects of the business. Items sold typically are grown by local farmers or made by local vendors.

Shared Harvest representative Heather Muniz said the group's plan is to raise...

Echevarria said that 1,000, $100 shares have been sold to 670 households willing to invest in Shared Harvest. That effort has been underway for more than four years.

Another $330,000 has been promised in loans from backers. And the group has secured $20,000 in grants, according to Echevarria.

Kaptain said he was left with the impression at his recent meeting on Shared Harvest that it would need some financial support from the city for the two out-of-state backers to contribute to the project.

Kaptain said he told those at the meeting he might be willing to consider granting the effort $250,000 if Shared Harvest could reach at least 1,000 members — a bare minimum number the city feels would be needed to make the for-profit endeavor out of the red. While a grant, the results would be similar to those when the city has offered sales tax rebates, such as one given to Butera to open in what was a long-vacant Eagle grocery story on the city's northwest side.

Kaptain also mentioned that the city commissioned an economic and fiscal impact report from the Incentis Group, which was released in August.

"This appears to be a well done and conservative study," Northern Illinois University Public Administration professor Mike Peddle said of the document.

It would be called Shared Harvest, a grocery store intending to provide the Fox Valley with reasonably priced, healthy,...

The study posits the city granting $250,000 to Shared Harvest. Peddle said the document appears to indicate that through taxes and indirectly the city could see anywhere between $10,000 and $64,000 per year over 10 years time back on what it gave.

"At the end of the day, the city would come out ahead a little bit," Peddle said.

The Incentis report also calls the area where Shared Harvest would be a "food desert," a term some Shared Harvest supporters have been using to describe the downtown.

Peddle said the area's demographics and that a Butera is a mile away might qualify the downtown for the food desert distinction.

Councilwoman Tish Powell, though, said, she feels the downtown is not a desert.

"There is a grocery store, " she said. "Some people might not like that type of grocery store, but it is a grocery store, and it fills a need."

Powell noted she has talked with at least two Shared Harvest supporters in person and another over the phone.

"I think they have an image problem," Powell said.

She explained that meant Shared Harvest supporters still need to do more to educate people that a food co-op is not like a Costco or Sam's Club where only paid members can shop but is open to the general public.

Powell noted that many area grocery stores are carrying more food labeled as organic. The Meijer where she frequently shops and other stores also are selling more items from local farms and vendors.

Adding competition is the appearance of Door to Door Organics in the area. A truck was seen in East Dundee Thursday for the business, which delivers organic groceries directly to homes.

"I'm not commenting on the store itself," Peddle said, "It's not a substitute for a Trader Joe's — but it might meet needs not directly attributed to being a food co-op."

A 2015 report by California-based G2G Group, commissioned by Shared Harvest, noted other challenges for the effort.

"... the trade area exhibits a demographic composition that is weaker-than-average with regard to most of the demographic variables that correlate positively with natural foods co-op sales performance levels (i.e., college-education levels, the proportion of non family households, and the proportion of persons employed in a health- or education-related occupation)," the study stated.

What do group members feel will allow Shared Harvest to overcome this?

"Education, Education, Education," Echevarria said. "We will educate consumers about the relationship between food, health and the environment. And through outreach programs; develop a community garden, sponsor Boys & Girls Club, partner with U46 in educating children about healthy food choices. We will raise awareness of food co-ops and demonstrate how co-ops support the community."

Kaptain said if Shared Harvest does open he'd like to see it make deliveries to senior citizens living in the area. An income-qualifying senior housing project in the works across the Fox River from the downtown — along with the redevelopment of the Tower Building as market-rate apartments — could help build a market for Shared Harvest, Kaptain said.